Tilbury 1, Grays Athletic 1

THE talk after Saturday's Isthmian North derby at Chadfields was not about the football – albeit a crowd of 510 had watched a close-fought clash between local rivals – but of an incident involving violence in the crowd.

Play was stopped with five minutes of the match remaining when a number of fans became embroiled in a disturbance following the award of a penalty to Tilbury which was converted by Charles Brown to give Dockers the lead.

Unsightly scenes followed with stewards and officials from both clubs helping to restore order as supporters clashed. Tilbury substitute Harry Upton, who had not come on, was shown a red card by referee Adam Merchant for his intervention in the melee.

There was to be a final twist to the game when Grays secured the point that keeps them inside the play-off zone when Callum Leahy scored in added time.

After the match it was reported that there was a further incident involving a clash between supporters outside the EME Stadium.

On Sunday morning (27 March) Grays Athletic issued the following statement: "Grays Athletic are disappointed that there were crowd disturbances at the end of our game at Chadfields yesterday.

"We will not make any further comment until video footage has been reviewed and the referee's report has been received.

"The club would like to thank Tilbury FC for their hospitality and for hosting such a competitive game in front of big crowd. We wish them well for the rest of the season."

Tilbury are also awaiting more analysis of what happened and commented briefly to say: "We are saddened by the incident towards the end of the fixture at what was a fantastic game to watch. We will not comment further until the referee's report and any evidence has been viewed. We will work with Grays Athletic to ensure this is dealt with."

Saturday's match saw Grays start the stronger and in the second minute David Knight whipped a free kick towards the top corner that keeper George Martin batted away, and the recycled cross by Ryan Melaugh was dealt with by Ayo Shogbeni.

Tilbury didn't wait long to create a chance of their own through Jermaine Anderson who drove down the right-hand side before playing a one-two with Charles Brown. The full back saw himself with enough space for a cross but it came to nothing.

The seventh minute saw Blues keeper, Danny Sambridge, play a driven ball down the right to kickstart an attack. After some work around the box a shot was fired in that hit Knight on the way through giving the number 10 an easy six-yard finish. However, he was in an offside position and the game remained goalless.

Straight from the freekick, the ball was played to Roman Campbell who held up play very well before releasing Brown on the right. Brown gave Campbell the return pass, finding him brilliantly, but Roman didn't have enough time to trouble the keeper. The rebound was collected by Phil Brown who strikes towards goal but the effort was blocked by the resilient Grays defence.

Tilbury began controlling the game with some good football in the middle of the park, presenting what manager Eljay Worrell is trying to do with the team.

However, Grays broke in the 21st minute through Aron Gordon whose cross found Knight to head towards goal but George Martin pulled off a brilliant save to prevent the visitors taking the lead.

The 37th minute saw another chance for the Blues as a hopeful ball forward had Jamal Allen and Anointed Chukwu chasing. As Allen attempted to clear he was pushed in the back, making him score an own goal. This was disallowed to keep the game level despite Grays finding the net twice.

The Dockers started the second half in lively fashion as they won a free kick in the 51st minute. There was no question as to who was going to take it as Lee Noble placed the ball. He struck it beautifully, but it ended up just wide of the far post.

The 65th minute saw another chance for Grays as Aron Gordon won the ball at the by-line on the left-hand side as he cut the ball back to the edge of the box as Chukwu was arriving. He opened his body too much and placed the shot wide to give a disappointing end to a great chance.

Five minutes later Campbell beat his man on the left with a nutmeg before putting a low ball in, but the chance comes to nothing after a blocked shot. Tilbury kept up this pressure as Roman Campbell had another shot brilliantly blocked by the Grays defence to put it out for a corner. The resulting set piece was cleverly played along the floor towards the edge of the box by Lee Noble, but the shot on goal was somehow not bundled in despite the home side's efforts.

You could sense a goal was coming and in the 84th minute, Campbell flicked on a long kick from the keeper towards Brian Moses who was brought down by the keeper and wins a penalty for the Dockers. Charles Brown stepped up and in the 85th minute fired home emphatically to give Tilbury the lead.

Following the restart, it was all Grays and in stoppage time Gordon found Leahy unmarked in the box who headed home to level up the game late on.